Arindam Chaudhuri bags Delhi team of i1 Super Series
Friday afterhours in Bangalore. Most of the white collared crowd is headed for weekend tripping and clubbing, but for 28-year-old Gishnu, 26-year-old Neera and 27-year-old Anoop, the idea of playing harder after working hard is breaking into some more sweat – this time outside their cubicles. They’ve assembled at the Indian Heritage Academy for a Kalaripayattu class conducted by Parashurama Vallabhatta Kalari Academy, now 10 years into its set-up; chief instructor Krishna Prathap (with whom we had a talk earlier) is away at a neighbouring metro for a performance, but these students carry on nonetheless.
Watching the rigorous warm ups in progress on the marble floor of the large cold hall, a far cry from the traditional Kalari (arena) – a leveled mud pit, with a flower-decked seven-tiered platform (Poothara) in the south west corner – one couldn’t help but wonder if the art too found itself, willy-nilly, in new territories.
Kalaripayattu claims to be the oldest martial art in the world; the warrior sage Parashuram credited with the ‘founding’ of its indigenous state Kerala – also believed to be the preceptor of this art, or that’s what the adherents of the Vadakkan (Northern) style of Kalaripayattu will tell you. Once the means to settle disputes between warring chieftains in the 15-16th centuries, the martial lineage of Kalaripayattu is kept alive in its training progression starting from body preparation exercises, to wooden weapons, metal weapons, and finally unarmed combat. Says Sudhakaran Gurukkal (respectful address for ‘Guru’) of C.V.N Kalari, one of the
earliest Kalari establishments, “It is not a mere martial art, it’s a style of life, for maintaining good health until our death. It’s a full fledged science, and that’s how it must be approached. Just like the difference between classical music and pop music; the latter is catchy and thus popular, but the former is more rigorous and scientific.”
So are the 20-somethings here for the science of Kalaripayattu? Neera, who has tried Capoeira, the Brazilian dance-cum-martial art form in the past, was drawn to Kalaripayattu for its aggression. “Its ability to develop speed and quick reflexes is a factor. It’s a complete fitness routine that includes weight loss, cardio and yoga,” she says in between catching her breath during the session. Gishnu finds the training chronology very helpful. “When you go from the long staff to the short stick to the dagger, in a way it works to improve your concentration and focus for as the weapon gets smaller, you are wont to pay more attention to where the blows land,” he says. But considering bare hand fighting is the last in the order, does it make for an ideal street defence form? Some contend not, owing to its complicated strike movements. When Karate or Krav Maga offer formidable self defence through short linear strikes, who would put oneself through Kalari that takes a minimum of a year to get past the exercise and flexibility enhancement stage?
Krishna Prathap reminds us that a lot of Karate and other martial arts instructors in fact turn to Kalaripayattu for a more holistic grooming, though he admits that the failure to evolve into a more contemporary version of itself may spell the death of Kalaripayattu. He has helped out with choreographed dance dramas that have
borrowed generously from that visually stunning array of movements that is Kalaripayattu.
Secrecy or the hesitation of the veterans to share knowledge of the deepest nuances that include Marma vidya (attack and defence of the vital points of the body), also threatens to deplete the patron numbers. Referring to Marma vidya, Krishna Prathap says, “Only the truly well-vetted students and those who prove deserving can be trusted with the science of 107 vital points which if attacked can paralyse or kill.”
Kalaripayattu may be looking for help with a new identity to survive or even convince that it is greater than the sum of its parts, but there is no taking away the massive takeaways it offers to anyone who steps into the kalari..
Condemn’poriSe?
Rashid Ansari, internationally renowned instructor of various martial arts including Taekwondo, Judo and Jiu Jitsu for over 20 years, and equally adept at theatre and contemporary dance, extols the virtues of learning a martial art while expressing his reservations about diluting it in the name of contemporisation.
The basic origin/methodology of a martial art is that it is a martial system, that is, a system of defence and offence. On a more simplistic/practical level, all of them have a very high physical fitness, well-being, health-oriented quotient. And by and large, all of them have results/side-effects which are therapeutic as far as the body and physiology is concerned. Then of course, there is self-confidence, self-enhancement factor and in today’s time, there is the yardstick of unarmed combat; the question of being able to look after yourself, or at least the confidence that physically you can take care of yourself to whatever degree.
Contemporisation is not the only way to keep alive a martial art, but unfortunately the pressure is such that everything has to be pretty much put out there on the stage and exposed because that’s what sells. It’s all a question of how holistic is your orientation. While you have a large number of people doing these things on the bandwagon of glamour and performance, you still find some supposedly crazy stupid people who stick to the old ways and are fairly holistic about it.
When people started contemporising from mind-body disciplines, the idea was to make it available to a larger part of the population, or a larger number of people, but the problem is that it’s very difficult to keep quality control, so you start giving down a very watered version. Then you really can’t call it the martial system or the unarmed combat form; you have to then call it a martial art more geared towards performance and health orientation, but not really ‘martial’ because it has lost its
effectiveness as a martial discipline; it’s more of a performance orientation discipline. So in a way, that’s bad. I personally am not in favour of contemporising traditional disciplines because while it may become applicable and adaptive to many more orientations for a greater number of people, it definitely loses its original usage and methodology and function.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Arindam Chaudhuri is Delhi franchise holder for i1 Super Series
IIPM ranks No 1 in International Exposure in the 'Third Mail Today B-School Survey'
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri Dean Business School IIPM
IIPM Excom Prof Rajita Chaudhuri
IIPM: What is E-PAT?
IIPM RANKED NO.1 in MAIL TODAY B-SCHOOL RANKINGS
IIPM Mumbai Campus
Friday afterhours in Bangalore. Most of the white collared crowd is headed for weekend tripping and clubbing, but for 28-year-old Gishnu, 26-year-old Neera and 27-year-old Anoop, the idea of playing harder after working hard is breaking into some more sweat – this time outside their cubicles. They’ve assembled at the Indian Heritage Academy for a Kalaripayattu class conducted by Parashurama Vallabhatta Kalari Academy, now 10 years into its set-up; chief instructor Krishna Prathap (with whom we had a talk earlier) is away at a neighbouring metro for a performance, but these students carry on nonetheless.
Watching the rigorous warm ups in progress on the marble floor of the large cold hall, a far cry from the traditional Kalari (arena) – a leveled mud pit, with a flower-decked seven-tiered platform (Poothara) in the south west corner – one couldn’t help but wonder if the art too found itself, willy-nilly, in new territories.
Kalaripayattu claims to be the oldest martial art in the world; the warrior sage Parashuram credited with the ‘founding’ of its indigenous state Kerala – also believed to be the preceptor of this art, or that’s what the adherents of the Vadakkan (Northern) style of Kalaripayattu will tell you. Once the means to settle disputes between warring chieftains in the 15-16th centuries, the martial lineage of Kalaripayattu is kept alive in its training progression starting from body preparation exercises, to wooden weapons, metal weapons, and finally unarmed combat. Says Sudhakaran Gurukkal (respectful address for ‘Guru’) of C.V.N Kalari, one of the
earliest Kalari establishments, “It is not a mere martial art, it’s a style of life, for maintaining good health until our death. It’s a full fledged science, and that’s how it must be approached. Just like the difference between classical music and pop music; the latter is catchy and thus popular, but the former is more rigorous and scientific.”
So are the 20-somethings here for the science of Kalaripayattu? Neera, who has tried Capoeira, the Brazilian dance-cum-martial art form in the past, was drawn to Kalaripayattu for its aggression. “Its ability to develop speed and quick reflexes is a factor. It’s a complete fitness routine that includes weight loss, cardio and yoga,” she says in between catching her breath during the session. Gishnu finds the training chronology very helpful. “When you go from the long staff to the short stick to the dagger, in a way it works to improve your concentration and focus for as the weapon gets smaller, you are wont to pay more attention to where the blows land,” he says. But considering bare hand fighting is the last in the order, does it make for an ideal street defence form? Some contend not, owing to its complicated strike movements. When Karate or Krav Maga offer formidable self defence through short linear strikes, who would put oneself through Kalari that takes a minimum of a year to get past the exercise and flexibility enhancement stage?
Krishna Prathap reminds us that a lot of Karate and other martial arts instructors in fact turn to Kalaripayattu for a more holistic grooming, though he admits that the failure to evolve into a more contemporary version of itself may spell the death of Kalaripayattu. He has helped out with choreographed dance dramas that have
borrowed generously from that visually stunning array of movements that is Kalaripayattu.
Secrecy or the hesitation of the veterans to share knowledge of the deepest nuances that include Marma vidya (attack and defence of the vital points of the body), also threatens to deplete the patron numbers. Referring to Marma vidya, Krishna Prathap says, “Only the truly well-vetted students and those who prove deserving can be trusted with the science of 107 vital points which if attacked can paralyse or kill.”
Kalaripayattu may be looking for help with a new identity to survive or even convince that it is greater than the sum of its parts, but there is no taking away the massive takeaways it offers to anyone who steps into the kalari..
Condemn’poriSe?
Rashid Ansari, internationally renowned instructor of various martial arts including Taekwondo, Judo and Jiu Jitsu for over 20 years, and equally adept at theatre and contemporary dance, extols the virtues of learning a martial art while expressing his reservations about diluting it in the name of contemporisation.
The basic origin/methodology of a martial art is that it is a martial system, that is, a system of defence and offence. On a more simplistic/practical level, all of them have a very high physical fitness, well-being, health-oriented quotient. And by and large, all of them have results/side-effects which are therapeutic as far as the body and physiology is concerned. Then of course, there is self-confidence, self-enhancement factor and in today’s time, there is the yardstick of unarmed combat; the question of being able to look after yourself, or at least the confidence that physically you can take care of yourself to whatever degree.
Contemporisation is not the only way to keep alive a martial art, but unfortunately the pressure is such that everything has to be pretty much put out there on the stage and exposed because that’s what sells. It’s all a question of how holistic is your orientation. While you have a large number of people doing these things on the bandwagon of glamour and performance, you still find some supposedly crazy stupid people who stick to the old ways and are fairly holistic about it.
When people started contemporising from mind-body disciplines, the idea was to make it available to a larger part of the population, or a larger number of people, but the problem is that it’s very difficult to keep quality control, so you start giving down a very watered version. Then you really can’t call it the martial system or the unarmed combat form; you have to then call it a martial art more geared towards performance and health orientation, but not really ‘martial’ because it has lost its
effectiveness as a martial discipline; it’s more of a performance orientation discipline. So in a way, that’s bad. I personally am not in favour of contemporising traditional disciplines because while it may become applicable and adaptive to many more orientations for a greater number of people, it definitely loses its original usage and methodology and function.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Arindam Chaudhuri is Delhi franchise holder for i1 Super Series
IIPM ranks No 1 in International Exposure in the 'Third Mail Today B-School Survey'
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri Dean Business School IIPM
IIPM Excom Prof Rajita Chaudhuri
IIPM: What is E-PAT?
IIPM RANKED NO.1 in MAIL TODAY B-SCHOOL RANKINGS
IIPM Mumbai Campus
